


another perspective

by sabrina_il (marina)



Category: CHARLES K. J. - Works, Society of Gentlemen - K.J. Charles, The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: BDSM, Crossover, M/M, Rimming, Roman baths, bathhouse, happy birthday roga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:07:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28720173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marina/pseuds/sabrina_il
Summary: On their tour through Europe, Richard and Cyprian stop in Italy, where they encounter a most curious couple in a bathhouse.
Relationships: David Cyprian/Richard Vane, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59
Collections: Roga's birthday ficlets





	another perspective

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Roga](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roga/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGA!

Rome was hot and filthy and utterly beautiful. It was spring, the best season to visit, but it already felt like the worst heat of summer to Richard. 

Going to the baths was an absolute necessity, even if David hadn’t casually informed Richard that if they went there at a certain time on a certain day, they might see something of particular interest. 

Richard wasn’t certain what could be so unusual about another bathhouse on the continent, where men with certain appetites were known to congregate. In Spain, it had been heady, novel and exciting. In France, it had been liberating, to realize fully that he would never be recognized in a place like this, that no one here would report on his doings to someone in England - and even if they did, Richard had plenty of plausible deniability about being mistaken for someone else. 

So far away from home, so many things were possible. 

The bathhouse in Rome was a genuine relief, even in the parts of it that were full of steam. To be out of his clothes, to be clean... Richard had taken it for granted for most of his life, a bath never more than a few words and a few servants away, but here it felt like an absolute luxury. 

Finally, steamed and washed and relaxed, Richard sat on the smooth stone seating, his arm around David, who was observing one of the couples next to them. 

The bathhouse was fairly empty at this hour, just before midday. Richard had gotten used to bathhouses like this being like a very, very loose version of Millay’s, where men felt free to do with each other as they pleased, unconcerned with the presence of others, or sometimes even including them in the activities. 

Richard and David had both come to an understanding quickly that while they enjoyed such an atmosphere, they usually preferred to keep to themselves and politely decline any invitations. 

The object of David’s focus this time was a man lying on his back on the stone bench. He had the typical Italian look - dark hair, a beard, a skin tone that suggested his face would not be damaged by hours in the sun as badly as Richard’s had been. Above him was a man with lighter hair, lighter eyes, holding down the first man, in a way Richard instinctually thought of as quite brutal. 

The man without a beard had his arm pressed against the first man’s throat, not enough to choke him entirely but surely enough to restrict his breathing, while his other hand was wrapped around the man’s cock. The man on top was pleasuring him at an intense speed. 

The man who was lying down looked utterly relaxed. His arms were splayed out on the bench, above his head. One dangled to the floor, the fingers loose, fists unclenched. 

He let out soft moans, as the man on top of him bent down, changed his position without altering the pressure on his victim’s throat, and put his mouth on the man’s cock. 

Richard had been so transfixed by this, he hadn’t noticed David changing his position as well, sliding down to his knees on the hard stone. Richard only noticed when David’s hands pushed Richard’s thighs further apart, making room. 

“Oh,” Richard said, turning his gaze back on the man he loved. Something about seeing this raw, vulnerable display of pleasure shot lightning to the core of Richard’s arousal. David had barely touched him and already he felt like he was close to completion. 

“Allow me?” David said, and Richard nodded, of course. Who could say no to such a proposal? 

David grinned. “Do feel free to continue watching the show, my lord.”

He whispered the last words, even though it was doubtful that anyone here spoke English. 

Richard loved watching David do this, or any other task, but given such explicit permission, and given that David had likely brought him here specifically to see this, Richard obediently turned to look back at the couple. 

They had moved. The man on the bottom was now lying on his stomach, legs spread over the bench, feet on the floor.

David’s mouth was on Richard, sucking the head, which always made Richard wild. David’s hands were rubbing up and down Richard’s length, making Richard breathless, as he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the two men in front of him. 

The man on top had his head buried in the other man’s arse. Clearly, vividly sucking and licking his hole. The bottom man’s arms were twisted up behind him, held at the level of his shoulder blades by the top man’s fists. The angle looked painful, but the bottom man, again, moaned in absolute bliss. Richard thought he could make out, in between pleas to God and what he could only assume was Italian profanity, the name Nicolo on the moaning man's lips.

It set his blood on fire, to see it. It made no sense, how could this be comfortable? It shouldn’t be. Richard could never enjoy that level of pain, no matter what else was being done to him. 

David’s mouth took more of him in, descending lower and lower, and Richard moaned himself. David’s hands came up to hold Richard’s wrists steady, pressing them against the cold stone. There was no need for it, Richard would have taken the hint not to touch David if he didn’t want to be touched, but apparently David wanted to be absolutely clear. 

He sucked Richard down, pressing hard against his wrists, constricting them. As Richard watched the bottom man moan and writhe, and Nicolo push his hands even farther up his back, as David’s mouth sucked him like a vortex, and his wrists strained more and more from David’s hardening grip, by the time the orgasm swept through him Richard was sure it was Italian hands, and not English ones, that were holding him down. 

He finished, hitting his head a little too hard against the stone wall, and David swallowed it all and let go of Richard’s hands, which allowed Richard to pull him up for a frantic kiss. 

“This was well timed,” Richard said, still breathless, when they pulled apart. He could still feel David’s phantom grip against his wrists. 

David gave Richard one of his most charming smirks. “When one knows the right places and the right people, scheduling comes easily.”

“We’ve only been here a fortnight,” Richard shook his head, smiling. He did not deserve David in any capacity, certainly not in his professional one. 

By the time they pulled apart properly, Nicolo and the other man were gone. 

“It was… an interesting experience,” Richard said that night, over dinner, still mulling it over in his head. “Well calculated. I can’t say I’d volunteer for it myself, but it’s certainly made me… better understand Dominic’s perspective, I suppose.”

“I thought it would,” David smiled one of unguarded, private smiles. 

“Do you know who they are?” Richard asked. “That charming Italian couple?”

“Hmm,” David said, taking another bite of his food. “There are conflicting versions, I’m afraid.”

“What?” Richard asked. “What does that mean?”

“Pay it no mind, my lord,” David said. This time the words were said in the ordinary way of a valet addressing his employer. A code for - these are not things we can discuss freely in public. 

“Very well,” Richard agreed, and then waited until David took a large sip of his wine. “But I do intend to repeat the experiment, later tonight, perhaps with our roles reversed?”

David did not spill a single drop, of course, but he couldn’t control his face completely, and that was enough for Richard.


End file.
